Mysterious Time
by nat-chan
Summary: Darien, a man haunted by an emptiness he can't explain, raising a daughter he can't remember creating.....can his daughter discover the truth?
1. chapter 1

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Could you say to me you love me  
And I'm the only one  
Could you say to me you love me  
That I'm your man  
  
Is this the last time I'll ever see you  
Is this the last time I'll ever meet you  
Is this the last time I'll ever make love to you  
You  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Filter  
  
Title: Mysterious Time  
Chapter 1  
Author: nat-chan  
Genre: Romance/Alt. Reality  
Disclaimer: standard  
E-mail: natia_99@yahoo.com   
Author's Notes: I was thinking sad thoughts and wrote this little  
blurb and then decided to turn it into a fic....*shrug*  
  
Hope ya like!  
  
  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
*  
*  
"What if this moment is all we have?"   
  
  
Her voice sounded strange with the words. Her wide blue eyes  
gazing at him as though suddenly thousands of years old. It   
finally sank into him what she was....he'd been denying it for  
so long.  
  
Her ancient magic lay in those words for they were wise and pained.  
  
She was reaching out to him, in the soft night, with the fair   
mystic wind and the flickering stars to protect them. And he could  
not resist. Not now. Not ever.  
  
There were those who would claim he was simply seduced by her  
magic. Perhaps in some odd way they were true. For there was  
something magic about her....beyond what she was, who she was.  
Her soul had a glow he swore reflected in her eyes. In her love  
for him.  
  
And he knew he loved her too. In some base, undefinable way.  
With absolute certainty.  
  
No matter how many kinds of fool he was called. It did not matter.  
Nothing else mattered but this. All life was a faded gray compared  
to this pure thing between them. And he never wanted it to end.  
Though it would. Cruelly.  
  
Life was cruel. Love was not.  
  
~What if this moment is all we have?~  
  
His eyes filled up suddenly. His mind, his body, his heart, full  
to the brim with her. It was too much. And with a sudden stab  
of shock and pain he knew how he would ache for her. How he  
would long for her. Oh God.  
  
And this one moment, this one memory was supposed to serve for  
love?  
  
Could any moment ever be enough?  
  
He reached for her, knowing he could not possibly remember every   
detail, hold onto every sensation.  
  
~I would die without this moment.~ He thought in sudden agony.  
Though life would be torture without her.....without this moment  
he could not continue.   
  
Life would stop.  
Time would stop.  
He would stop.  
  
  
And suddenly he could not say everything he knew he needed to say.  
Not with his words or his hands or his kisses.....too much for it to leave his  
body and reach her.....  
  
He was simply tangled in the night, tangled in her. Unable to be free, unable to let  
go.....unable to sort through it all.  
  
He heard her murmur into their kisses. Crying and feeling joy.  
~I know it is foolish to love you......I know it cannot be....but I do...I do....~  
  
Her thoughts surfaced like liquid in his mind, burrowing in till he knew he would lose  
himself without her. He would crumble without her inside him this way. And even now  
he could feel her starting to pull away.  
  
"No..." He begged, "No don't go....."  
  
She was crying now....silver tears trailing her cheeks. Glimmering like pearls in the  
moonlight. He clung to her, begging her to stay.  
  
Praying time to let this moment stand still for all time.  
  
But it was a stolen moment. Every precious second with her was stolen. Unfated, corrupt,  
impure. But perfect.  
  
She laid him back then, bared his body and took from him, the one thing she could. Stole  
the ultimate moment.   
  
Bliss.  
  
He had only long moments that seemed brief to caress her and hold her tightly to him  
before he lay dazed and spent beneath her. Love burning so hotly through his body he  
felt it's glow light his skin.   
  
Words much stronger than 'I love you' filled him from her.....etched into his mind  
forever--against everything else.  
  
~My beauty, my heart, my mind....my love....~ He returned, lost and drowsy from their  
lovemaking.  
  
And she smiled at him suddenly, burning another word into his mind, next to the image of  
her face....though she knew it was cruel...and selfish.  
  
~Remember....~  
  
  
  
And then with a sudden rush of air he was gone. And she buried her face in her hands at   
what she had done.  
  
A forbidden thing. A cruel thing. But she could not resist. Love was too beautiful  
and too tempting.  
  
But that did not matter now. He was gone. Forever. And he would not remember, save  
for the fleeting image of her face....the vague sensation of her love....  
  
He was back where he truly belonged. In his own time......  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	2. chapter 2

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"I sometimes wonder if this ache is because I've  
already loved someone and forgotten....and that   
ache is all the memory I have left....."  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Title: Mysterious Time  
Chapter 2  
Author: nat-chan  
Genre: Romance/Alt. Reality  
Disclaimer: standard  
E-mail: natia_99@yahoo.com  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
  
Darien sat straight up in bed, gasping for breath. He jumped up  
tripping over his sheets and stumbled to the window.  
  
Something was wrong. Something was missing. Something had happened.  
But he could not tell what it was.  
  
His mind was reeling, whispering things that vanished into darkness.  
  
Only two things remained.   
  
A woman's face.....soft and beautiful, whispering 'remember...' and the  
sensation of something even more than love.  
  
He fell to his knees and held his head in agony. He had forgotten somehow.  
Something.....something......  
  
He looked out to the busy city streets.....the vague blue of the sky in the  
distance.....this was not right....  
  
  
He stumbled through his apartment staring at his books and magazines   
and music....None of it seemed right.....or real.....  
  
He splashed cold water on his face and tried to shake an overwhelming   
sensation of displacement. As though he had been thrust between   
places quite suddenly.....but could not remember...  
  
Then he sat down with a cup of black coffee and tried to collect   
himself. He felt terribly disoriented.  
  
~I must have had a strange dream....~  
  
But that did not seem right either. Dreams often left   
mysterious bits...but this wasn't like that....vague images and whispers   
felt imprinted in his mind....as though pressed there quite powerfully....  
and intentionally.  
  
~I'm going crazy...~ He thought in panic. ~What does this mean?~  
  
He tried to take stock.   
  
He was home. In his apartment. Downtown. Near his job. At the newspaper.  
He had no family. And few friends. He lived alone.  
  
Then, suddenly, it struck him what the matter was. The last thing he remembered   
doing....it wasn't going to bed! He had no recollection of the previous   
night or going to bed at all.  
  
The last thing he remembered was.....at the park....in the woods....there  
had been something strange.....  
  
  
  
A knock at the door interupted his thoughts. He heard a strange sound from   
behind the door and hurried over. But when he opened it there was no one  
their....except a basket, with blankets and a note.....and a baby.  
  
He jumped back in surprise and looked wildly down the hall at both sides.  
Then he gingerly picked up the note with it's ethereal silver writing,  
~Take care of our baby....~ It read simply...and the words vanished as he read   
them....  
  
The note was blank precious seconds later. He was shaking terribly as he reached  
down to the baby. It was a little girl....new born....tiny...trembling...  
But as soon as he picked her up he knew....with absolute certainty....that she was  
his.   
  
He carried her and the basket inside and sat down with her in his arms, taking a  
good look at her. She was beautiful. Her skin was perfect--though she seemed  
barely minutes old--her eyes wide and blue. Silvery hair lay like a fine down  
over her head. He touched her cheek with awe.  
  
"Hello...." He said and suddenly felt choked by an overwhelming sadness.   
This was his daughter....he was sure of it. And yet, he could not remember  
her mother....  
  
The tiny baby grabbed his finger with her chubby fist and held it tight,  
watching him with wide eyes.  
  
He gathered her up in her soft blankets and headed out....to the park....into  
the woods....to the last place he remembered being.  
  
He stood there with the baby staring into the dark nothingness of the forest  
and felt something....he could not say what.  
  
But he knew with blinding suddeness what the baby's name must be....  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	3. chapter 3

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I've, a memory of a dream for you  
In a strange place in my heart  
Wish I knew the truth of you  
Wish I'd known it from the start  
  
I've, thrown a wish away on you  
My heart just slipped away from me  
Falling for you.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
'slip'  
Title: Mysterious Time  
Chapter 3  
Author: nat-chan  
Genre: Romance/Alt. Reality  
Disclaimer: standard  
E-mail: natia_99@yahoo.com   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Twelve Years later..........  
  
  
Rini took her time walking home from school. Her silvery blond  
hair, tied into two pigtails, blew gently in the spring breeze.  
Her back pack wagged with a slight scuff across her back to  
the rhythm of her walking.  
  
She sighed thoughtfully.  
  
It always seemed to her, on days like these, that she could pick  
up and fly if she wanted to.   
  
But of course she had never tried.  
  
She gazed into the park as she headed home and saw other kids  
playing on the swingset.  
  
She didn't really have any friends. She was different from  
the others somehow. She knew it herself.  
  
Her father was much younger than everyone else's.....and she had  
no mother.   
  
She knew it--before her father tried to explain.....she knew  
her mother was no where on this earth....  
  
A strange flash in the woods caught her attention. As though  
someone ran by very fast...but different.  
  
She walked curiously in after it but found only the shaded  
darkness of the trees stretching out before her.  
  
She and her father often walked through these woods. It seemed  
the only time he felt at peace....he seemed very haunted most  
of the time--as though he'd forgotten something important  
and wanted to remember very badly.  
  
She noticed.  
  
A breeze picked up in the trees, making them whisper their  
secrets in some long-dead language. But a voice suddenly  
whispered next to her ear,  
"You can do it if you want to....."  
  
She jumped and reeled around. But there was no one there.  
  
Then the whisper was in her other ear and all around,  
"fly....fly......"  
  
And for one startling moment it seemed she was lifting off the  
ground....just like she'd always dreamed she could.  
  
But then she broke the moment and tore off in a frightened run  
for home.  
  
"Papa! Papa!" She cried out as she burst into the apartment.  
  
But he was not there....for the first time.....  
  
She found a note next to her dinner saying he had to work late.  
Her breathing gradually slowed and she threw off her knapsack.  
  
She didn't feel like eating dinner, or doing her homework.  
She felt oddly restless.   
  
She wandered through the small apartment and into her fathers  
room. It was small and plain with just his bed and desk by the   
window.  
  
She looked out across the busy city landscape and sighed, letting  
her eyes dart meaninglessly around--not expecting to see anything.  
  
Something did not seem quite right. She was just getting to the  
age where she remembered.....where true life memories began and  
now, fleeting things she had noticed were adding up.  
  
Her father's haunted solitude. How different she herself was.   
How a secret seemed to lay just a breath ahead of them both  
ever moment.   
  
The sad way her father walked through the forest--always  
stopping at that same place, where the trees were darkest.   
How he never slept.   
  
He was a kind father. He had provided everything for her,  
encouraged her to take dance, and music and swimming  
and everything else small children did. But she did not  
want to. She drew. He had managed to enroll her in some  
drawing classes. But that was all.  
  
She was very gifted with it. But she struggled with  
school--not because she wasn't smart, but because she  
seemed to truly feel it was all irrelovant.   
  
And she did. With a sense of magic all around--why did  
they study such drab, gray things? No one seemed to   
want a drab, gray life and yet they all headed straight  
towards it.  
  
She often felt everyone was asleep and only she and her  
Papa were awake. Though it was very lonely.  
  
She sat on the edge of his bed and traced the room again   
with her wide blue eyes.  
  
Suddenly, something near the closet caught her eye...on the ceiling,  
an attic door.  
  
She jumped up and ran over to it, searching for someway to reach  
it and found a step ladder in the closet.   
  
She climbed up and pushed at it till it opened and she could pull  
herself into the dusky space.  
  
She had never noticed they had an attic--but it appeared Papa came  
up here.  
  
She pulled herself to a stand and flipped on the light, only to   
freeze in sudden shock.  
  
For the room was full of sketches....everywhere....and they were  
all of a woman's face....  
  
And the woman looked like her.....  
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	4. chapter 4

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Thunderous incomplete  
Deafening rush you end repeat  
  
I've been  
I was  
I am  
waiting?  
  
It's long, long I've wondered, whispered, feared, inevitable  
  
do I want it anymore?  
can I want it anymore?  
  
can't explain  
haunt is such a tiny word  
soft romantic, fumbles this  
deep rich hard alive burn I feel  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
'soul speak'  
Title: Mysterious Time  
Chapter 4  
Author: nat-chan  
Genre: Romance/Alt. Reality  
Disclaimer: standard  
E-mail: natia_99@yahoo.com   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
  
  
Darien walked home from the office slowly, exhausted.   
He'd been feeling so tired lately. So empty and lost.  
  
He thought of his daughter home waiting for him. Rini.  
His pet name for her.  
  
For she was Serena. He had known it that first moment. And now  
it had been twelve years. Could it really be so long? It felt  
like seconds....and lifetimes....  
  
It was strange.  
  
He'd suffered through moments of overwhelming agony....an aching  
and longing for something he could not name. And the sense of  
having forgotten something still plagued him.  
  
Her face....it was burned into his mind. ~remember...~  
But he could not.  
  
He'd studied up after that. Read everything about people  
waking without memories, feeling displaced.  
  
Alien abductions. Strange comas. He'd read it all.   
  
There was only one theory that came close. He'd stumbled across   
it really...in a fiction novel....not even a case study...no one  
believed in it.  
  
Time travel.  
  
The side effects of time travel fit the bill. Though it was  
impossible. But the sense of disorientation. The loss of  
memory...time and memory could not work together that way.  
If he had travelled back or forward and then returned his  
memories would only be real in the place where he made them.  
Not here.  
  
All save for fleeting images...strange sensations he would not  
be able to recognize.  
  
He knew the woman whose face he could not forget or remember was  
Rini's mother. She had to be.  
  
That meant that he and this woman had been together. Had made love.  
And he could not remember.   
  
It was terrible.  
  
He rarely slept--had come to hate his dreams...  
  
He always woke feeling he was in the wrong place.   
  
All he had left was the image of her face....the strange sense  
of a feeling more than love....and his daughter.  
  
She was so bright and sweet.....he loved her more than anything  
else in the world.  
  
He wondered vaguely how he would ever explain anything to her  
about her mother but then brushed it aside. He had a few more  
years yet...  
  
He unlocked the door and headed into the apartment--noticed Rini's  
dinner was untouched....  
  
"Rini?" He called out, her knapsack was here, "Rini!"  
  
He looked in her room and then heard a funny noise in his own.  
He rushed in and looked with horror to his open attic door.  
  
No. She was never supposed to know.  
  
He rushed up the ladder and found her standing still frozen in  
shock, looking at all the drawings he'd made. Haunted.  
  
"What is this Papa?!" She cried out.  
  
He rushed to her, "Rini....why did you come up here love?"  
  
"Who is she? Who is she? She looks like me!" Rini cried, panic  
making tears run down her cheeks.  
  
Darien tried in vain to comfort her, "I know she looks like  
you....I wish I knew who she was....."  
  
He knelt down to look in her eyes, "I don't know. I see her  
sometimes....in my mind.....but I can't tell who she is. Do  
you understand?"  
  
Rini looked back wide-eyed at him, "Is she my mother?"  
  
The question hung in the air....in the sudden silence....  
  
His eyes became pained and Rini suddenly felt terrible for  
asking.  
  
"I....I think so." He choked out.  
  
She threw her arms about his neck, "I'm sorry Papa! I'm sorry!"  
  
She felt him hold her tight, "I'm sorry love. I wish I had  
answers...."  
  
  
He sat her down then and tried to explain what little he knew  
to her. She listened quietly and watched with horror and  
fascination as tears actually welled up in her father's eyes.  
  
"How do you know I'm your daughter?" She asked softly when  
he was done.  
  
"I am more certain of that than anything else in this world!"  
He said fiercely, "I know you're mine Rini!"  
  
She nodded.  
  
He carried her back down to bed where she fell asleep, exhausted  
as he sat beside her.  
  
Then he crept back to his own room in agony and fell down before  
his window.  
  
~Please God....let me remember?~ He prayed....  
  
  
And as he slept that night, disturbing memories began to surface.  
  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
"What if this moment is all we have?"  
  
The sensation of her kiss.  
  
The sound of a forest.  
  
Her silver tears.....like Rini's.  
  
And then nothing. Blackness.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
  
He sat straight up in bed the next morning....still grasping  
at the strange dreams. More than dreams......memories...of  
moments stolen.....and gone...  
  
  
He ate silently with Rini and kissed her goodbye for school.  
Then he returned to the attic and sat a long time in silence.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	5. chapter 5

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
these are the tears i've been crying my whole life  
like an ocean of desire  
i'm reaching thru the noise  
across the dusk of time   
within the lilting lies  
i am singing out to you  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Smashing Pumpkins  
Title: Mysterious Time  
Chapter 5  
Author: nat-chan  
Genre: Romance/Alt. Reality  
Disclaimer: standard  
E-mail: natia_99@yahoo.com   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
  
Darien stood stalk still. The forest wind whispered listlessly,   
but his every feature remained frozen....  
  
He had two handfuls of his sketches, standing once again   
before the spot....the last place he remembered being before  
he woke that morning....forever changed.....with a baby....  
  
He stared into the blackness of the forest, it always seemed  
darkest in this place.   
  
The wind picked up and he let the sketches go, blowing in all  
directions....  
  
Then tears welled up in his eyes, he fell to his knees before  
the darkness and buried his face in his hands.  
  
"I don't understand. I can't remember..."  
  
What he could not know...was how just beyond the sacred gateway  
she was watching....as she always did...crying softly...longing  
to reach out to him....sooth what she had wrought...  
  
But she was forbidden.  
  
But watching him now, she could bear it no longer. She shut her  
eyes and focused and one of the sketches blew back and landed   
before him. It was a moment before he noticed and then started.  
  
He reached trembling fingers to clasp it. It had changed.  
The sketch was of the same woman....standing in a long dress,  
holding a baby.  
  
She gazed mournfully out at him.  
  
He stood slowly, frozen in staring at it.  
  
Then his face changed, he gazed with sudden hope into the blackness.  
  
"I know you're real!" He cried, "I can feel it! Wherever you are,  
I dream of you...."  
  
And on the other side she shut her eyes, savoring the sound of his   
voice....for it had been twelve years since he had spoken to her....  
  
He looked back down at the sketch and watched the silvery lines spill  
into sparkle and disappaer in a flutter back through the darkness.  
  
He looked into the blackness a long moment, and they gazed  
at one another....somehow seeing...  
  
Then he turned and left.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
*  
*  
  
Rini came through the park on her way home....now eager to seek out the same   
flash of light and whispery voice she had heard. She wondered if  
it was her mother somehow speaking to her.  
  
She hurried to the woods and stepped in, found the spot from before. And just like  
before the flash of light blinked around in several places. Then the voice  
whispered,  
"Fly....fly....you were made to....you were meant to....."  
  
She shut her eyes and let herself believe for one moment that she could, when  
she opened them she was. She rose gently and barely dispelled the leaves till  
she was lingering in the tree tops. And everytime she spotted a shadow or a beam  
of light, she was there, instantly. It was glorious.   
  
She lost all track of time and only when it became dusky did she realize her folly.  
  
"Oh no! Papa! He'll be so worried!"  
  
She sank to the ground, grabbed her bag and made to run off when he came through the  
trees calling her name.   
  
"Papa!" She cried and he broke into a run for her.  
  
"Rini, sweetie, I was so worried!" He clutched her desperately, "You mustn't  
stay this late in the forest again!"  
  
"I know Papa, I'm sorry. But wait until you see what I can do! I think Mama is teaching  
me somehow."  
  
He froze at her words and she scurried out of his arms and into the circlet of trees  
that formed the clearing he had been in just hours before.  
  
He watched her shut her eyes and then lift off the ground, raising to the tree tops  
and darting with childish laughter from moon beam to moon beam.  
  
He watched another flash of light darting about with her--could barely hear a whispery  
voice....but it was a boys...not a girls....  
  
"Rini...?" Was all he managed, stepping towards her.  
  
A sudden flash of lightening and the churning of the sky unnaturally interupted them.  
Rini landed swiftly and rushed to him, "Papa!" She cried in panic over the suddenly  
deafening roar of God only knew what, "What's happening?"  
  
"I don't know!" He cried, clutching her tight.  
  
The dark spot suddenly shot out light and engulfed them, pulling them in against  
their will.  
  
They vanished and only darkness and silence remained in the forest.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
not a bad cliff hanger if I do say so myself, *haughty blow across fingertips*  
*dodges tomatoes from readers*  
  
What? What did I say? ^^ 


	6. chapter 6

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Is it me that stands alone?  
  
breathless  
hushed  
severe and waiting  
  
for   
the one thing I have no voice to call for  
the one thing for which my heart longs for  
  
you---  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
untitled  
Title: Mysterious Time  
Chapter 6  
Author: nat-chan  
Genre: Romance/Alt. Reality  
Disclaimer: standard  
E-mail: natia_99@yahoo.com   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
  
Darien became aware first of a blinding light to which his eyes  
could not adjust and then to an overwhelming sense of familiarity  
of the feel and smell of the place he and Rini stood in.  
  
He had Rini clutched tight and felt her poor body shaking with fear.  
  
But then the light gradually dimmed and everything came oddly into  
focus. It was still very bright, but trees could be discerned. A  
forest...a silvery forest.  
  
Darien shook now. It was so familiar. Like his dreams, but so  
vivid. The sight of it brought memories back with a shock.  
They way it felt to the touch, the sound of it in the night.  
  
~How do I know? Where are we?~  
  
A flash of light caused both he and Rini to look over with a start.  
But then a tall woman emerged from the light and the trees.  
She was stately and beautiful, with strong, determined eyes.  
  
"Welcome." She said, though without much sincerity. She was being polite  
and nothing more, "I am sorry to frighten you by bringing you here, but  
it appears your daughter is of this world and not yours so she must  
be removed immediately and kept here."  
  
Darien's eyes widened and his grip on his daughter tightened.  
  
"Papa....?" Rini whispered.  
  
"Where are we?" Darien asked, trying to keep his voice steady.  
  
The woman smiled, "That is difficult to explain. It involves time.  
You see, you are on the other side of time so to speak, the place  
within it where it moves neither forwards nor backwards, but...ebbs."  
She frowned, "I do not know how to explain to you any better than  
that. The creatures here are mystical and magical--fables and faerytales  
in your world. Sirens, faeries, elves, mermaids....these creatures  
are the over idealized memories of your people of mine."  
  
She looked at Rini, "Your child possesses abilities that can only  
be of this world. She has been smuggled to your world, but she  
cannot continue to exist there. You," She indicated by  
pointing at Darien, "however, are NOT of this world, so you must  
return to your own."  
  
"No!" Cried Darien, "You can't take my daughter away from  
me!"  
  
The woman ignored him and her attention flickered elsewhere, as  
though she were listening to someone else, "Someone of this world  
has been in contact with your child. This is strictly forbidden.  
I believe I know who it was. And she knows the punishment."  
  
At this moment, another woman emerged from the trees. Her large,  
sad blue eyes downcast. She moved slowly forward and both Rini and  
Darien gasped.  
  
The woman from the drawings. Her slender, ivory form was shorter and   
softer than the taller woman's. Her long golden hair was streaked with  
ethereal silver and trailed to her feet.  
  
"Serena..." The woman said, "You have been contacting your daughter."  
  
She met the taller woman's eyes then and shook her head, "I haven't. I  
haven't I swear! I would never place them in danger!" She looked  
at them then and Darien nearly fell to his knees, "I love them too  
much!" She finished in tears.  
  
Darien felt his heart burst in his chest. The sound of her  
voice....he knew it. He knew her.   
  
Serena looked at Rini and ushered her over softly.  
  
Rini looked at Darien and then walked over, "Mama?" She asked  
uncertainly.  
  
Serena's eyes filled with tears, she took Rini by the shoulders  
and looked at her as though starved for the very sight of her.  
  
"Enough!" The taller woman commanded, pulling Serena away from her  
daughter.  
  
"You lie." She said simpy to Serena, "You have contacted them both!"  
  
Serena looked at Rini sadly, and then, ever so slowly, she turned  
to Darien, whose eyes had not left her since she emerged.  
  
As soon as their eyes met, memory shocked through him like electricity.  
Here, in this place, his mind was able to remember.  
  
Serena...his lover...his forbidden lover. He had stumbled across her in   
the woods when he shouldn't have and they had fallen in love. She   
had brought him here and made memories he could not keep. Memories   
in the forest. That last night....that last night they had made   
love....and she had given him Rini....  
  
Her eyes filled with tears as she saw the recognition fill his eyes,   
"My love..." She whispered to him.  
  
His own eyes filled with tears and he fell to his knees truly, "You..."  
  
Serena buried her face in her hands.  
  
Rini watched them both with her own silver tears falling. It was falling  
into place clearly now. Her mother and father had shared a forbidden  
love...and it had tortured them both all these years. Now, here they  
were....  
  
"I thought it was you Mama..." She said softly, "I thought you were   
teaching me to fly..."  
  
Serena shook her head.  
  
The tall woman was unmoved, "Have your tears. Communicating  
with the other world is forbidden and you know it Serena. The   
punishment is death."  
  
Rini and Darien both choked out 'no' together.  
  
Serena paled, "I swear to you...I did not contact my daughter..."  
  
The flash of light caught Rini's attention again, and this time, it   
stopped in front of the tall woman and settled into the ethereal   
appearance of a young boy Rini's age. His fiery red clothes   
contrasted his white skin and hair.  
  
"Helios..." The taller woman addressed, "My son...what are you doing   
here? This is no place for you!"  
  
"It was me." He said simply and Rini gasped.  
  
"That voice!" She cried, pointing dramatically at him.  
  
"What?!" The tall woman said in shock.  
  
"It was me mother. I contacted her. I felt a tie to her.   
She is one of our own....I just knew where she was and reached   
out to speak to her."  
  
The tall woman contemplated this a moment. Then she turned  
to Serena, "I apologize." She said strongly, "You did not lie,  
I will never doubt you again. Obviously my son felt a prophesy.  
Your daughter does not belong in the other world. I realize  
you sent her their to protect her, but she must remain here.  
She is one of ours."  
  
Serena nodded slowly. Then she looked at Darien meaningfully  
and gestured ever so slightly.  
  
The tall woman shook her head, "You know it is forbidden. He  
cannot simply be removed from his own time and world. He will  
have long standing connections with others that will be  
unnaturally disrupted. He must be returned, without memory, as  
he was before, alone."  
  
Darien's face crumpled in agony, "No! Be merciful! Give me death,  
but do not return me empty, to that life! You're wrong! I have  
no one! I have no family or friends or any of that! I have only  
my love and my daughter! Without them, I want nothing. I do  
not wish to live!"  
  
Serena and Rini stood side by side. Their eyes wide and  
tear streaked. They gazed in horror at him.  
  
Rini broke into a run towards her father, "Papa!"  
  
The tall woman gestured her son to take Rini away and he pulled her,  
kicking and screaming for her father, to the woods.  
  
Darien's eyes filled with tears.  
  
The tall woman turned on Serena, "You have caused this. The misery  
of this poor man is entirely of your doing. Do you see?"  
  
Serena nodded in anguish, "I know. I am sorry. But....but  
I love him." She finished in a whisper, she broke down and  
fell to her knees, "I can't help it!" She cried, "I love  
him!"  
  
The tall woman's face registered a brief flicker of sympathy,  
but then she hardened once again, "Your love cannot be...."  
  
She could not understand why Serena would love this man of the  
other world--though her peoples had long ago found love in the  
other world....it was not natural and had not happened for centuries.  
Why did she seek out this man when it was strictly forbidden?  
  
She knew Serena took the sacred gateway to the forest often,  
fascinated by the feel of time on the other side. She had always  
seemed lonely and kept to herself. But now, she had sought the one  
person she could not have. It was so frustrating! He had to go  
where he belonged!  
  
Darien looked desperately from the tall woman to his crumpled   
lover in despair on the ground.   
  
For twelve years she had suffered in silence, watching over  
him and her daughter. Filled with love and longing and  
unable to reach them. Now, she must lose him again.  
  
Darien was filled with anguish and sympathy. All this pain  
just for their love. It couldn't be for nothing. He had  
to do something. He had to fight for it.  
  
But the tall woman gathered up magic to her hands, creating the   
gateway behind him.  
  
"You must return to your own time. I truly am sorry..." She said  
sadly as he paled and shook his head desperately at her.  
  
She lifted her arms to force him through....  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	7. chapter 7

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
And I find myself without   
A single, romantic word  
About, our love  
But I'll tell you this  
It's you I miss  
After you've gone  
I stand still  
Still as stone  
While the rest of the world  
Moves on...  
If time is curved  
Circles back and swerves  
Leading me to you  
Slowly but sure  
One thing pure  
It's you I miss  
Uncertain bliss  
When I'm with you  
It's always new  
And somehow the same  
I'd call it strange  
And strong and pure  
One thing sure  
It's you I miss  
Without your kiss  
Without your touch  
I miss you much...  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
untitled song  
  
Title: Mysterious Time  
Chapter 7  
Author: nat-chan  
Genre: Romance/Alt. Reality  
Disclaimer: standard  
E-mail: natia_99@yahoo.com   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Darien gaped in horror, "Wait!" He cried, "Hear me out!"  
  
She stopped, eyebrows raised, then she stepped back. The  
roar of the gateway behind him ceased.  
  
"Speak." She said with interest.  
  
"It was me that found her....she didn't come looking...it  
was fate...I had no one....and she was everything..." Darien  
cried out brokenly, looking into her eyes.  
  
The tall woman looked at them both considering. She turned  
to Serena, "Is this true? Did he find you? You did not  
seek him out?"  
  
Serena nodded, "He discovered me in the woods...near the  
sacred gateway."  
  
Darien continued feverishly, he could remember it so  
vividly now, with a richness unlike any memory from his world,  
"She was sitting in the forest and I came walking through, I..  
...I saw her..."  
  
She had been there, in her shimmering layers of dress, her long  
hair trailing around her as she sat, eyes closed, basking in the   
peace and the feel of the forest.  
  
He had blinked several times, uncertain if she were real. She   
looked like a faerie, or a nymph....a dream....  
  
And then she had opened her eyes and looked at him. He had stood  
frozen at that moment. Something had happened, and suddenly  
they knew everything.....with something stronger than recognition,  
more beautiful then telepathy....deeper than magic....  
  
  
The tall woman watched the memory as it filled his mind. She saw  
their romance as it spun itself. The way they could not resist  
the strange and perfect connection they shared. The agony it  
had caused them both.  
  
She thought of her own lover and shivered at the thought of   
suffering this situation. Of watching her precious son grow   
up through a gateway. Of her lover without memory of her,   
clutching at vague images in dreams.  
  
She reached a hand to Serena, "You have suffered for you love  
long enough. If he can leave his world.....then let him remain.  
Perhaps there is another magic at work here. I sometimes forget  
ours is not the only magic." She smiled, "Whatever bond of the  
soul it is you share, I will not stop it."  
  
She looked at him a long moment, "I believe it was fated that you  
meet. But the rules have been long standing. It took me far  
to long to address this matter properly because of that. I apologize."  
  
She let go Serena's hand, "Go to him. You have my blessing. Suffer  
no more."  
  
The tall woman vanished then, and left them to each other.  
  
Serena started towards him brokenly, "My love...I am so sorry  
for all this!"  
  
He broke into a run and grasped her to him, struck by overwhelming  
deja vu, "Serena....I remember...I remember!"  
  
She cried into his arms, "It was cruel of me to burn that image  
into your memory....but I was selfish, I couldn't let you go!"  
  
"It was a gift! A gift my love! Don't you remember...how I told you  
you were everything to me? You have given me every gift of love. Your  
heart...a memory against time....a beautiful daughter....I love you."  
  
Serena cried in his arms, "I watched you both. I watched how kind  
you were. How lovely she is. I ached to be there. I missed you  
so terribly. But I was there every moment!"  
  
Darien rubbed her back and held her close, "It must have been torture."  
He whispered.  
  
"No more than yours." She returned.  
  
They were silent a moment, as the tragedy finally spent between them. It  
changed and became joy.   
  
"At last....I never would have believed it, but we can be together!" She  
smiled through the last of her tears at his handsome face.  
  
He smiled back and leaned down to kiss her, her silver hair tangling through  
his fingers. She murmured softly in reply. The feeling returned, warm and  
languishing and deliberate...a feeling more than love.  
  
Then she pulled back, smiling, her eyes alight and alive as he remembered them,  
but free of sadness for the first time, "And your not such a boy as when  
I first met you." She teased, her hands closing around his shoulders.  
They were a good deal broader than the narrow frame he had carried as a teenager.  
  
His smiled spread to a grin.   
  
He pulled her to her feet from where they had fallen to their knees together.   
Hands on her shoulders, he took a good look at her. Her ivory skin in the shrouds  
of the beautiful dress she wore. Her long hair, her blue eyes and the gentle pout of  
her lips. He remembered it all anew.   
  
He was a good foot taller than her standing up and smiled down at her. She smiled   
and fluttered up off the ground to meet him eye to eye, then she softly kissed him.  
A faerie kiss.  
  
He caught her up in his arms and held her their, savoring how precious this all was.  
How complete he felt. How it had all come together at last. How this  
was his happy ending.  
  
They talked then, of love and their life together. The magic  
of the place they were in.  
  
Suddenly Rini flew in, with Helios circling around her.  
  
"Mama! Papa!" She landed and ran into Darien's arms.  
  
He clutched her tight.  
  
"Helios told me you could stay! I would have gone after  
you Papa! I promise! But now it's all okay!"  
  
Darien smiled, "I know love. I know. But..."  
He leaned down to whisper, "...I think there's someone  
else who needs a hug more than I do."  
  
Rini smiled and turned, a little uncertainly to her  
mother. But one look in her kind eyes that held a half  
hopeful expression convinced her.  
  
She threw her arms about Serena and hugged her tight,  
"I'm glad to finally find you Mama!"  
  
Darien watched Serena's eyes cloud as she talked with  
her daughter...for the first time.  
  
He put his arms around them both, and thanked whatever God there  
may be for blessing him with such beautiful love. It was worth the   
wait.   
  
He would never wait again. There was no time in this place. Only love.  
Endless, perfect, and magic.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


End file.
